Immigration

Farai Chideya (Host): In a country that long defined itself in black and white, this past decade marked a watershed moment. Latinos surpassed African-Americans to become the largest ethnic group in America; Mexican immigration was just one driving force behind the change. According to cultural critic Gregory Rodriguez Mexican immigration will transform the way Americans view race. It's the premise of his new book, "Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans and Vagabonds." And Gregory joins me now. ... So you kick off your… more

There's a rule that politicians are reminded of: “do no harm.” In recent months, politicians have implicitly amended the rule to say “do no harm -- unless immigration is involved.” The rancor sparked by a failed New York plan to permit illegal immigrants access to driver's licenses and the fallen federal and state versions of the DREAM Act highlight a dangerous obsession with keeping illegal immigrants from accessing the supposed privileges of citizenship at any cost.

In today's debates, considerations of… more

As Ward Connerly prepares initiatives to abolish race-based affirmative action in five more states, New America Foundation fellow Gregory Rodriguez, no fan of Connerly's movement, has published an eye-opening book that nonetheless reinforces deep questions about the nation's racial assumptions and categories.

Connerly is the Sacramento businessman and ex-regent of the University of California who drove the successful campaigns overturning race-based preference policies in public education, employment and contracting in California, Washington and Michigan. He's now planning similar campaigns in Arizona,… more

As New York backs down on driver's licenses for illegal aliens, San Francisco rises up, offering new help for illegals.

The deliberate defiance of federal law, coming now from the West Coast, is a test for our nation, and we should respond as one nation. Why? Because the basic principle of national responsibility for national problems -- reaffirmed by, among other events, the Civil War -- must prevail.

New York's Democratic governor, Eliot Spitzer, backed down on his plan for issuing driver's… more

Gregory Rodriguez's brilliant book on Mexican and Mexican American identity, "Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America," threatens my secret dream that I am a direct descendant of some feather-clad Aztec warrior princess who ruled over a Mexica queendom circa 1500. Perhaps because I am named after a fabled Aztec royal, Lady Ixtacihuattl, I have forever suspected that my DNA positively sparkles with glorious Xicana genes that were born in ancient Aztlan: the… more

The influx of Mexicans into the United States will change how race is perceived in American society, says Gregory Rodriguez, [director of the California Fellows Program at the New America Foundation]. ...

Author of a new book, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America, Mr. Rodriguez said at a Washington press conference this week that Mexican-Americans have been "racially categorized" for centuries and that integration is a must for American society.

His… more

What lessons can we draw from the recent elections? Here are three:

First, being a competent executive matters. In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, having demonstrated his competence during the Katrina disaster of 2005 and the subsequent rebuilding, sailed to re-election.

By contrast, incompetence is fatal. In Louisiana, the incumbent governor, Democrat Kathleen Blanco, having made a fool of herself during Katrina, had to be on her way out. She was at least smart enough not to run again, thereby avoiding further… more

On the same week last month that the European Union unveiled its new, no-hassle "blue card" program to attract highly skilled migrant workers, the U.S. Senate voted to hike employer fees for H1-B visas to $5,000. H1-Bs allow U.S. employers to bring foreign talent into the American workforce. It was a telling coincidence, demonstrating that as the rest of the world is becoming more welcoming of skilled immigrants who fuel innovation, the United States, mired in its know-nothing Lou Dobbesian… more

The Democratic presidential front-runner is charging ahead, blowing past weak opposition. A lagging Democratic rival raises a critical issue in a candidates’ debate, but does so in a halfhearted manner that gets little traction among Democrats. So the front-runner stays out front, as the others falter and fall out.

But damage has been done to the front-runner. A wound has been opened, a slow hemorrhaging has commenced, even if Democrats don’t notice.

Over on the other side of the aisle, Republicans see… more

In the recently published Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds, Gregory Rodriguez takes an in-depth look at the largest immigrant group in American history. Rodriguez examines the complexities of the heritage and the racial and cultural synthesis -- mestizaje -- that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Vis-a-vis the present era of Mexican American confidence, Rodriguez argues that the rapidly expanding Mexican American integration in to the mainstream is changing not only how… more